Due to their typical location near the floor, electric outlets continue to pose a serious inherent safety problem to children and others not understanding the danger of electrical shock.
Various attempts have been made to reduce the inherent danger of electric outlets, but these have to date proved unsatisfactory.
Plastic plugs are available for insertion into empty electric outlets, but these plastic plugs are often misplaced when removed and, therefore unavailable when needed.
Complete outlet covers have been provided, eliminating the problem with plastic covers described above. However these covers are still unsatisfactory because the cover shield, when positioned to expose the electric outlet, is susceptible to being torn away, whether intentionally or not. See for example Hooser, U.S. Pat. No. 2,516,464, Kubik et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,068,442 and Myers et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,956,573.
Other designs have incorporated slidable shutters covering each outlet opening, with the slidable shutters being slid or rotated by the plug as the plug is inserted, thereby exposing the outlet openings. See for example Dola, U.S. Pat. No. 3,865,456, Meistrell, U.S. Pat. No. 2,820,842, Fitzpatrick et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,710,382, Lewis, U.S. Pat. No. 2,641,627 and Huber, U.S. Pat. No. 2,477,803. Such devices are typically difficult to correctly position in order to insert the plug.